Abstract:
Language prejudice is of two types: positive
and negative. Negative prejudice is image
effacing. It is characterized by negative
evaluation of one’s own language or speech
patterns and a preference for someone else’s.
An example of this kind of self-
-denigration is the case of David Christiaan,
the Nama Chief in Namibia, who, in
response to the Dutch missionaries’ attempt
to open schools that would conduct their
teaching using Nama as a medium of instruction,
is reported to have shouted, “Only Dutch, Dutch
only! I despise myself and I want to hide in the
bush when I am talking my Hottentot language”
(Vedder, 1981: 275 as quoted in Ohly, 1992:65.
In Ambrose, et al (eds.) undated: 15).
